IB Middle Years Programme (MYP)
IB MIDDLE YEARS PROGRAMME (MYP)
Excellence in Education – IB Middle Years Programme
Since 2024, Westlake High School has partnered with the International Baccalaureate Programme to provide all students with a globally relevant, rigorous, student-centered education that prepares them for attendance at any post-secondary institution in the world. Beyond a high school education, students develop into self-aware, curious, intrinsically motivated people who become active participants in the betterment of the lives of others around the world.
At Westlake High School, the Middle Years Programme (MYP) spans from 9th to 10th grade, culminating with the Personal Project that is completed in the Spring of the 10th grade year in Homeroom. MYP focuses on facilitating the growth of young children into responsible young adults that are ready to enter into a self-selected academic path at Westlake.
The MYP Curricular Framework is inquiry-driven and encourages students to reflect and take action on issues of global significance – ideally in the service of others.
The instructional framework consists of:
KEY AND RELATED CONCEPTS
Concepts are big ideas that have relevance within specific disciplines and across subject areas. MYP students use concepts as a vehicle to inquire into issues and ideas of personal, local, and global significance and examine knowledge holistically.
GLOBAL CONTEXTS
Students explore global ideas through the curriculum in their classrooms that relate to global contexts such as identities and relationships, orientation in time and space, personal and cultural expression, globalization and sustainability, fairness and development, scientific and technological development.
APPROACHES TO LEARNING
Through Approaches to Learning (ATL) in IB Programmes, students develop skills that have relevance across the curriculum that help them “learn how to learn.” ATL skills can be learned and taught, improved with practice and developed incrementally. They provide a solid foundation for learning independently and with others. ATL skills help students prepare for, and demonstrate learning through, meaningful assessment.
SERVICE AS ACTION
Service as Action allows students to extend their learning beyond the classroom walls and into the community. It gives students the opportunity to connect and contribute to the real world and empowers them to become global citizens.
At the end of the Middle Years Programme (grade 10), students demonstrate what they’ve learned in the MYP through the Personal Project.” Over the course of this one-year project, students select a topic of global importance that excites them. Tenth grade English teachers shepard students through the Personal Project cycle where they investigate, plan, develop and present this topic (in the format of their choice).